


nowhere is safe

by hellotricksterr



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-22
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2018-01-09 14:22:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1147015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellotricksterr/pseuds/hellotricksterr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin Arlert never thought the zombie apocalypse would happen, but I don't think anyone in this world did. He learns a lot about how people fight together to survive, how the world has truly gone to shit and that even when the situation is at it's worse, he doesn't have to be alone</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The zombie apocalypse always seemed like an abstract concept, only possible in movies and bizarre conspiracy theories, but look at the world now _._ Armin Arlert lets out a deep sigh and rolls over for probably the fiftieth time tonight, as he listens carefully for the lifeless groaning sounds that have been haunting his dreams. Everyone seems to have fooled themselves into believing that this place could keep them safe forever, or at least no one voices their doubts out loud. Armin probably had the most doubts of them all, but he refused to cause anyone to panic. It was just for him to analyse and ensure that their home could stay their home for as long as possible. There have been no problems for the two months they have been kept "safe" here.

The main door is obviously locked, but if all the zombies were to push up to it at once, the glass would easily be broken. Armin sees his classroom window shattering as those things reached through, causing everyone to run screaming towards the door. A girl he sat next to in English Lit pulls open the door and within seconds a zombie is sinking it's teeth into her neck. He shivers as he tries to shake off the memory, but all he can see is the faults in the infrastructure of the flats. They only thing keeping his family from harm. They have to be safe.

What if someone came back with a bite? What if they got in somehow? _It is my responsibility to make sure nothing happens._ He silently muses with gritted teeth. "I will keep my family safe. " Armin whispers quietly as he drifts off to sleep, his hand close to the baseball bat he keeps under his bed.

He woke up reluctantly and got to work. Armin was left out of group meetings  and his mother was worried about him going on supply runs, so he has barely been able to help anywhere .  The only thing he was trusted to do was sorting through the abandoned flats with some of the other kids. This became a sort of routine as they had nine other floors to search through.  

There was a group of twelve, mostly teenagers and a couple of the older people who hadn't already been given other jobs, and they went floor by floor. Another group would split the supplies they find between the survivors.  It was their job to find food so that the group who leave the flats can focus on bigger things like medication and he never really found out much else, but probably whatever couldn't already be found here.

Armin looks through apartment 537 with two of the only people from school who aren't complete assholes to him, Sasha and Connie. He wouldn't call them his friends, because they only had two classes together and they barely spoke outside of class, but they are nice enough. Come on, anyone who didn't harass Armin on a daily basis was nice enough but these were people who are more than tolerable. A lot of the people from that hellhole are the worst thing that happened to him before the apocalypse. _Were_. They are dead now. Armin realised. He should say were. Should he be insulting the dead? Are they out there somewhere? Undead and waiting to attack and try and eat some poor guy's face off or something.

"Hey dude!! You daydreaming there?" Connie says, waving his hand in front of Armin's face. He snaps out of his deep train of thought and smiles.

"No, it's nothing. I was just... this feels weird. All of this." Armin mutters the last part gesturing around him and then rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I get what you mean, man." Connie nodded understandably and turned back to Sasha who was looking through all the cupboards in the apartment.

Sasha cheered pulling out several tins of baked beans, some tomato soup and some canned fruit. Connie smiled fondly as he started loading it into their backpacks.

"Come on, if that's everything here, we can show th-" Connie started, but a blood curdling scream cuts through the rest of Connie's sentence.

Armin grabs his bat and is the first to run out into the hall. His view is blocked by a crowd of people struggling to get away. _There can't be one of them in here , there can't be._ Connie and Sasha follow quickly to see what is happening.

The scene is frantic. Blood on the walls, people running, people screaming, people dying. Mr. Gregson, his biology teacher, is writhing in pain on the floor holding his shoulder, a zombie is headed straight towards them, screams echo down the stairs. Armin can't breathe. He can't stand by and watch but he is frozen to the spot.

Connie runs straight past him and sinks his crowbar into the zombie's head killing it instantly. He turns back to Armin, blood splattered on him.

"ARMIN! Come on we gotta go. We need to get people out of here right now!" Connie yells looking desperately at Armin, eyes wild with urgency.

Sasha is knelt on the floor next to Mr. Gregson, who is barely breathing and could turn any second. She takes his hand away from his shoulder to reveal a massive bite mark with blood spurting from the area he had covered. Sasha gasps and backs away quickly covering her mouth. She sits staring in shock at him.

"Sasha! There is nothing we can do for him. He is going to turn. We need to go." Connie puts his hand on her shoulder supportively.

"There is something..." Armin says . He leans down to pull a gun from one of the bodies. She might have been someone's sister. He can't quite place the face, but he can see the gun in her hand. She must not have had time to fire or maybe she didn't know how. That didn't matter now.

"Okay, we've got the gun. Now we leave. Before..." Connie looks back to the bodies. He doesn't have to say it. We all know what happens in this world where the dead are walking. "Armin, what are you doing?"

He aimed the gun at Mr. Gregson's head, took a deep shaky breath and closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

"You need to turn off the safety first." Sasha said, taking the gun from him and turning the safety off. Armin had read about this before, he doesn't believe that it would slip his mind at a moment as important as this. He would have to ask her to show him how she did that later.

She shot each of the bodies in the hall once in the head. Armin winced every time. It may have been his idea and it is probably for the bestm but that doesn't stop his heart violently jumping every time she pulls that trigger. _I hope someone does that for me on the day that I turn._ It's not a possibility anymore. It's an inevitability.  Everyone is going to become one of them someday.

"Quick let's go up to the rest and warn them to get out. If they heard screams they might have gone up to the roof to go down the fire escape."

They run down the hall and then they just have to get up the stairs to evacuate everyone. They could have got out already. _My parents will be fine, my parents will be fine, my parents will be fine._ Armin repeats this like a mantra to the rhythm of his running.  They turn the corner to where the stairs are meant to be, but it's too late. It is full ofthem.

"GET DOWN. NOW." Connie shouts, hitting one of them in the head with his crowbar and shooting down the stairs. "Sasha! Don't waste your bullets! Just run!"

Armin knocks a few of them out of the way. It was definitely more than two, but it's all just a blur of adrenaline and determination. He just keeps running. He even manages to keep up with Connie, but I guess the apocalypse does wonders for your fitness too.  _They have to be fine._

"Okay we need to head straight ahead until we reach the houses across the street. We can keep jumping fences to slow these shit brains down. They can't jump, they will walk through them. Keep going until we get to a shop or somewhere safe we can use for shelter. You got it?" Connie shouted.

Not a bad plan. As for somewhere safe, I don't think a place like that exists anymore, but we can make do. Armin's brain has been working slow of late but it's all catching up with him now.

"Sasha whatever you do, do not pull that trigger. We need to use our  weapons that make the least noise or we will be surrounded in seconds. They are fucking stupid, if they see you they go for you but they follow loud noises more. They will follow the sound of gunshots or screaming or music playing or anything like that. They follow the noise."

"What?!" Sasha looks confused.

"We're nearly at the bottom. No time to argue now. What Armin is saying makes sense, do it. Here we fucking go, good luck guys." Connie says as he takes the last turn jumping off the stairs and running straight at the door, swinging it open.

They start to run straight at the fence ahead, when a herd of zombies comes around the corner. From both sides.

"Shit. Fuck. Crap. We're surrounded." Connie said, moving himself so that they are all back to back facing outwards at the oncoming hoard. "Fuck" he whispered, hitting the zombies coming at him in the face with his crowbar but eventually just swinging it wildly in front of him while avoiding getting bitten.

There must have been fifty zombies all around. There is no way we're getting out of this. He was gonna turn unless... He turned to Sasha and stared at the gun in her hand. She was constantly shooting, so there was no way he could get it from her. _I don't wanna turn. I don't wanna turn._

He screamed and ran at the zombie in front of him. He whacked it with his baseball bat and smashed it's head in, blood getting all over him. If he was gonna go down, he was gonna go down fighting. It all became a blur of them shouting and the dead groaning, until an arrow flew through a zombie's head right in front of him. He had no idea where that came from but he was gonna take that as a sign.

"Eren, give me my bow back! You're such a dick." an exasperated voice yelled.

"Okay Marco, you go save some lives now" Eren laughs, patting the dark haired guy on the back, giving him the bow back. Armin could kinda see outside of the circle of zombies surrounding them, there wasn't enough room to get out yet, but with a bit of work they might actually do it.

"Quick this way!! We're clearing a path for you and we're just gonna run as fast as we fucking can until we get to the edge of the woods, alright." It wasn't the same voice as before, this guy sounded more aggressive. "Go! Now!"

Connie was the first to run he broke past Armin and sprinted in the direction the guy was pointing in. Zombies that were in his way fell one by one each with a smooth head shot. Armin followed, knocking one zombie to the ground with his bat and then Sasha followed him, gun held out ready to fire. Not that she would need it, as every zombie that comes even slightly near us is shot down in seconds.

"Okay, Mikasa. You can stop showing off now. We're all getting out of here." the aggressive guy from before said, he is fairly tall with light hair. He shoots a zombie following them with his rifle .

Mikasa, the dark haired girl who had been shooting most of them back there, caught up and came running alongside them. She rolls her eyes.

"Maybe you could do with some showing off, Jean. I didn't see you doing anything useful out there." Mikasa shouted forward to him and then made a point of shooting two zombies who were feeding on a corpse at the side of the road before running ahead of them all. The trees in the distance are getting bigger and Armin lets out a sigh of relief.

"Our camp is a two minute run into the woods, straight down the path. Mikasa can take over the watch and we can get to know this new bunch of survivors."  Armin recognised the voice of the one who patted him on the back as he ran past him. It was the boy who stole the bow from the other guy... Eren. _He saved my life. They all did._ He silently vows that he will have to find a way to make it up to them one day.

When they get to the woods, they follow the path straight ahead like Eren said. The fact that the trees shield their vision on both sides makes Armin feel uneasy. This would be traumatic enough without a zombie jumping out and eating him in the woods. Then in what seemed like no time, they arrive at a camp. The group has three tents, two cars and what seems like plenty of supplies. None of this even seems real. He feels his legs stop moving but apparently the message hasn't been passed onto his heart which is still thumping at top speed.

"Where are Reiner and Bertholdt?" Marco asks, getting more ammo from inside one of the tents in their camp. Looking around at the faces of other people in the camp, none of them seemed to be worried by the two missing people in their group and they all seemed to be hiding their smiles except Eren.

"Oh come on! Not again, guys." Eren said, he was laughing quietly to himself as we walked towards the other end of the camp. He hit hard on the side of the red car twice. "Reiner! Bertholdt! Get the fuck out of my car! We have some new people for you to meet."

Two guys rolled down the window and waved, smiling at them all before descending into ridiculous giggles. They get out of the car on the other side, which is when Armin realised how massive they are... and also unclothed. They are both over 6 foot tall and will definitely tower over him.

Reiner and Bertholdt started to put their clothes back on, so Armin turned to Sasha and Connie to check that they were okay. They are hugging, Connie's head on Sasha's shoulder and his hand in her hair. It's seeing an intimate moment like that, that makes Armin realise that he is truly alone now. They have each other, these people have each other, but there was no one who needs or wants him.

"We'd better get a fire lit and our food cooked before it gets dark." Jean asked, taking a seat on one of three garden chairs in the middle next to the unlit fire and putting his feet up on one of the others. "I'm Jean by the way, what are your names?"

Connie wiped his eyes a little bit and said "I'm Connie and this is Sasha. Thank you for, well, saving us all."

"What about you? What's your name? Feel free to take a seat." Eren said while hitting Jean's legs off the chair and gesturing for Armin to sit.

Armin looked up,  surprised that someone acknowledged him. It was just a habit from school to presume that he fades into the background, but I suppose that is difficult when you are one of the only ones left alive.

"It's Armin. You're Eren, right?" Armin said, taking the seat and smiling slightly at the dark haired boy.

"Yeah, that's right. Mikasa, my sister, is on watch behind that tent over there and Marco is the one who went to get the firewood." Eren said, smiling back at Armin and leaning back in his chair. He raised his voice and shouted "If Reiner and Bertholdt are dressed yet, you can introduce yourself to them."

Reiner and Bertholdt came out from behind Eren's car smiling sheepishly and they introduce themselves properly. It's strange to meet so many new people, especially as they have seen all the same faces and same things for the last two months.  

Armin sits quietly while the others joked around with each other. He only heard what they were saying as background noise, as he tried to process everything. Sasha and Connie were quiet too.

"Right, Armin, Sasha and Connie?" Bertholdt, the slightly taller and dark haired man, said pointing to each of them when he said names. They all nodded to acknowledge that he answered correctly. "Heyy, got it right first time." he said, holding up his hand expecting a high five. Armin obliged and Reiner cheered. The conversation continued as they ate their food. Armin didn't even notice the time passing until it got dark and then he noticed that Mikasa had been on watch for a long time. No one said anything so he guessed this must have been a regular occurrence.

"So what happened to you guys out there?" Marco said, taking a sip of his drink. "If you don't mind me asking, it just seemed like quite a difficult situation you got yourselves." He smiled supportively. Armin guessed it would be easier to be honest with them and tell them everything that they knew, rather than to awkwardly keep it to themselves.

"We've been staying in those flats for two months now and a lot of us lived there before any of this started. It's been pretty secure up until now, actually. We all moved onto the same floor and then went through the different floors to collect supplies, but today when Sasha, Connie and I were searching, something happened. We didn't see but somehow _they_ got in and a lot of people died. I don't know if my family-" Armin's voice cracked and then he coughs quietly to try to hide it.

Connie continued where he left off. "We don't know what happened to anyone, the stairs were blocked by zombies. Armin said it's because they were drawn to the sound of gunshots. So when people ran screaming they followed downstairs, but we shot some on that floor, so some must have followed the source of the noise back to us."

Armin nodded in aggreement and so did the others listening to their story.

"Because the zombies were lead back downstairs and away from the other people,  there could be some people up there and safe." Armin said, hopefully.

"Armin-" Sasha said softly, walking towards him. Looking into her eyes, Armin can see the pity but also grief from her loses. Could she see that in him as well? He didn't even think about the fact that she and Connie would have their own families up there as well.

"Your families could be safe too... Think about it, if they had got inside their apartment and barricaded the door. They could have. Or they could have got onto the roof? Someone else must have got else." Armin knew it was probably hopeless, but he had to hold onto something.

"I'm sorry, but they weren't expecting it. They weren't prepared. I doubt..." Connie said trailing off and looking down solemnly. _I doubt anyone survived_. Armin was thinking it too. His own apartment was right next to the stairs. That's where his mother was . Slightly along the hall, his father would be organising rations and neither of them would have seen it coming. _My parents are gone._

"Listen, I'm sorry for bringing this up..." Marco looked so guilty and upset, probably thinking about the circumstances of his own family and how he ended up here. "I'm sorry for your losses."

"It's fine, Marco. Thank you." Armin said, gratefully.

"We've all lost people, Armin." Eren put his hand on Armin's shoulder. " So if you need anyone to talk to, then well you've got people who have gone through similar things right here. Sasha and Connie, you too."

"Well then... the apocalypse has truly fucked as all over!" Jean shouted at no one in particular, just kinda upwards. A god or a higher power I guess, but I don't think that's much help anymore.

"Well I'll drink to that." Reiner said, raising his can of coke.

"I miss beer. I wish we had beer." Jean whined and he got a can thrown at his head by Marco. "Hey!"

"We would still have beer, if you hadn't convinced us to drink it on our first two nights here!!" Marco shouted.

Armin couldn't help, but join in the laughter as Jean huffed indignantly.

"Right, Mikasa. I'll take over from your watch. Maybe they can pick on you instead." Jean got up, grabbed his gun and headed behind the tent.

"Oh they wouldn't dare make fun of me, Jean. It's just because you're an easy target." Mikasa picked up a can of coke and took Jean's seat. Armin watched, but then realised something.

"Why are you only keeping watch from one side?" Armin asked curiously.

"Hi. Armin, isn't it? Glad to see we finally have someone with a bit of intelligence." Mikasa said, smiling as all the boys protested loudly. Eren must be used to this, being Mikasa's brother, because he was just laughing at everyone else. "In answer to your question, we have a wire line set up in those trees, but we didn't have enough for these ones over there."

Reiner yawned loudly. "Am I boring you, Reiner?" Mikasa, questioned sarcastically.

"Of course not." He said, stretching out his arms and legs. "I think I might just go to bed. You coming?" He held his hand out to Bertholdt and they said goodnight to everyone and walked to one of the tents.

"Where can we sleep?" Connie asked, noticing that there were only three tents and they didn't have anything with them that they could use for shelter.

"You can sleep in my car if you want and there is room in Marco's as well." Eren let Sasha and Connie into Marco's car and showed them where all the blankets are and then walked Armin  over to the other.

"Well sweet dreams then." Eren said, winking at Armin before he turned to walk back to his tent.

"Night." Armin said, blinking at the space where Eren was before he left.

When Armin settled down in the blanket on the backseat of Eren's car, he tried to shut his mind off. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. He tried to look at this as a new adventure and not a terrifying fight for survival with big scary people with big scary guns. Okay maybe they weren't all so big and scary and were actually quite nice, but the threat of the zombies will always be terrifying.

Should I had said something to Eren? How do you even thank someone for saving your life?

Is this all his fault? If Armin had stayed downstairs with his family for once, would they still be alive? Or would he just be dead too? What happened to them? Are they dead or alive... or worse? The fact that there is a possibility worse than death is bad enough, but knowing that his parents could just one of those things... They could be out there, walking around groaning or maybe they are ripping someone apart right now. Maybe they have killed someone. Maybe one of them killed the other.

A shiver passes through Armin's body.

I guess it is more difficult not sleeping in your own bed. Armin turns over and tries to imagine a world where none of this was happening. Maybe a world where he still knew these people, maybe they were friends and maybe there was no one who wanted to eat his brains. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!! thanks to anyone who left kudos or commented or anyone who read it really you're all great!

He is running through the woods, his breathing loud and uneven. It's dark so Armin can't see much, just vague outlines of trees and what could possibly be figures moving slowly in the distance. He just keeps running, away from the groaning sounds, but they start coming from every direction. There is nowhere left to run.

His foot catches on a rock which sends him tumbling straight onto his face. The impact is a shock. He can't even remember which direction he was running in anymore. He looks around and it all looks the same. Figures are getting closer. He can barely see, but as they get closer he can see their faces. Faces of people he knew. Not necessarily people he loved, but he knew all these people when they were alive.  Grant, a boy who Armin helped with his algebra homework once. Brett, a tall guy from the football team. Miss Harrison, the school nurse. Mr. Gregson, his biology teacher. The girl he sat next to him in English. Only it wasn't them anymore.

Armin tries to get up and continue running, but he can't. As they get closer,  he can see the features that are missing, the ripped clothing, the bite marks. He tries to shout for help but no sound comes out. He turns back to where he was running from, but as he starts to run that way he sees more zombies come out behind the trees. He hits Mr. Gregson with his bat so that he is knocked over. He pushes the girl into a tree and just keeps running. There are others closing in on him. He sees people that he used to live with, all dead, all trying to get him. This is it, he is going to die.

He turns back and he sees them. His parents. A gasp escapes from him as the tears well up in his eyes. His mum's soft blonde hair is tangled and covered in blood, her dress is ripped as if someone had torn it apart. There is no warmth in her eyes anymore, she is not there. His father is with her. He would look pretty normal if it wasn't for the dried blood all over him. You couldn't even see his clothes through all the blood.

Armin couldn't look anymore. He turned away and stumbled to the nearest tree, holding onto it desperately. He gagged as he let out his sobs and as the zombie versions of his parents got closer.

He turned around raising his bat to a defensive stance and turning back to them. "I can't kill you." he whispered, "I can't do it. I can't do it."

Armin slowly closed his eyes and decided to just let it happen. There was nothing he could do anymore. The last thing he saw was his mother lunging towards him, mouth wide open ready to take a bite out of him.

He woke up shaking violently and nearly falling off the back seat of Eren's car. He wheezes as the tears fall down his face. It was a dream. It was just a dream. He has to keep telling himself that, but it doesn't help. He can't shake the image of his parents. That could be real. _They might not have actually tried to kill me, but they could be like that now_. They are gone. They are dead... but the dead don't stay dead anymore.

"Armin? Are you okay?" Eren calls out, coming towards the car. Armin tried to catch his breath and compose himself, but he couldn't. He didn't want anyone to see him like this. He didn't want people to think that he couldn't handle this. He didn't want to be weak.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Armin said, but he thought the shakiness of his voice might have given away the truth.

"I was coming off of my watch and I thought I heard you shout or something." Eren said, walking towards the window of his car.

"I... I, umm. It was just a dream. I'm fine." Armin said trying to smile at Eren, but his hands were shaking. He took in a deep breath and looked at his hands, willing them to stop.

Eren tilted his head to one side. "You don't look okay. Do you want to talk about it?" Eren was giving him the same look Sasha had been giving him last night. It was full of pity and worry, which was strange as they barely knew each other.

"It was just a dream... but it felt so real and I," Armin's voice cracked. "Sorry, you don't want to hear about all this." He looked guiltily up at Eren through the car window.

"Mind if I sit?" Eren said, smiling sympathetically.

"Of course not. I mean, it's your car." Armin said, which made Eren laugh. Eren had such an easy laugh that was so full of light, it just made you want to smile back. However his expression turned more serious, still friendly and still with that same light in his eyes, but not joking anymore. He sat on the seat next to Armin with his legs crossed, trying to wriggle into a comfortable position.

"I still get dreams, you know. I've been on the road for nearly two months and I still get them." Eren said, he was moving a ring around one of his fingers and then he looked up at Armin. "It's okay for you to cry, Armin. It's all new for you and everyone here gets that."

" Thank you, Eren. You don't have to be this nice to me." Armin smiled gratefully back. "I mean you saved my life, let me sleep in your car and now this, I think I owe you."

"Don't be stupid, of course you don't. You need a minute or do you wanna see what we have for breakfast?"

"Yeah, let's go." Armin said, getting out the other side of the car and walking into the camp. He saw the backpack that Connie or Sasha must have brought back with them.

"I don't think we really have any breakfast foods, but we will have to make do with what we've got. You know, it would just be nice to have something hot that actually tastes nice. " Eren said, digging through the supplies.

"There's some baked beans in this bag here." Armin said pulling out the tins. "We could cook them over the fire. I didn't realise Connie and Sasha brought it but we have quite a lot. Some baked beans, tomato soup and some fruit."

"Looks like you don't have to worry about making it up to us anymore. Thanks, man." Eren put the bag with his supplies.

"Oh come on, that doesn't measure up to what you did at all." Armin said, sitting down and watching Eren start the fire.

"You need to stop comparing yourself to others, Armin. It's the apocalypse. It's enough that we are both alive right now. Don't worry about owing anything to anyone. It's about survival... and if you can help anyone out along the way it's just a bonus. Thank you for the food."

"Okay, okay." Armin said, laughing. "You're welcome."

Within ten minutes, Jean and Marco joined them, followed by Sasha and Connie. Jean and Marco were happy to see something different to eat.

"You know, we have been living on peaches and chickpeas for weeks. We have a lot of it, but I can tell you that stuff tastes nasty after two days let alone forty." Marco said, pulling a face.

"I think we're gonna move out of here soon anyway. We could raid the supermarket, up near the high school. I don't think it was overrun and we could load our cars up with food." Jean said.

"The high school is definitely overrun and the supermarket is quite close so it's possible that some are in that area." Armin said, trying to avoid thinking about the fate of his school.

"Well I say we put the tents down and load up our cars and get going. We could go today. We'll need another car though, so Bert and I will go into town to get gas and another one." Reiner said, coming out of his tent. "Ooooh good food. Is Bert still on watch?"

"Yeah, I'm taking over from him next." Eren said, throwing a tin to Reiner and letting him take his chair next to the fire. Armin feels slightly disappointed that Eren was leaving, but tried not to let it show.

"We could start taking the tents down now that everyone is up. If we're actually moving on today." Mikasa said. "We don't have much to pack up. Maybe one of you new guys could take over the watch and then we can all pack up our stuff. I'm not packing up Eren's shit for him."

"I'll do it." Armin said, a little too quickly but in an attempt at a casual voice. _Did I really  do that just so I could go talk to Eren again?_

"Thanks, Armin. You can take my gun. It's next to my tent."

Armin walked over to Mikasa's tent and picked up her gun, when he realised he isn't quite sure how to use it. Shit. He walked over to Eren and coughed to announce his arrival.

"Hey, what are you doing out here? Miss me already?" Eren said, winking at him. Armin felt his heart jump a little bit and is actively choosing to ignore that.

"Mikasa told me to take over your watch. They are packing up the tents and she doesn't want to get stuck moving all your stuff." Armin said, awkwardly trying to change the subject and not think about Eren winking at him again.

"Well I'll leave you here then, if that's okay with you." Eren said. "Don't worry, we hardly ever get any coming this direction. They don't usually come into the woods unless they are following someone and we wiped a lot of those out yesterday."

"Yeah that's... umm fine. Thanks." Armin said, smiling awkwardly.

Eren turned back to look at him. "You're feeling a little better now, right?"

"Yeah, a little bit." Armin smiled weakly and probably very unconvincingly. "It doesn't matter if my aim isn't very good does it? I don't want to waste your ammo, if it comes to it."

"Don't worry about it. I can teach you, if you like?" Eren said, walking back towards him.

"Yeah sure." Armin said, as Eren positioned himself behind him. He put his arms on top of Armin's and raised his arms up to point the gun in front of him. His hand touched Armin's briefly and it made his heart jump. His fingers trace along Armin's arms and up to his shoulders.

"You just have to look ahead. So if you wanted to shoot that tree, you would just look at it down your gun and... yeah just bend your knees slightly and your feet a little further apart"

"Like that?" Armin said, suddenly very aware of how close Eren is to him. He tried to control his breathing, but then Eren moved his hands down his body to try to steady him. His hands felt warm as they moved closer towards his hips, but then he took them away.

"Yes that's much better." He could swear that Eren is smirking behind from him. "You can move now. Obviously getting into that exact position isn't exactly easy if you are faced with a zombie, but you get the idea."

"EREN! Can you stop flirting and hurry up? I'm not doing this for you!" Mikasa shouted from camp. Armin felt his face go bright red and he is very glad to be staying out here and not go back to face the camp.

"I'm coming!!" Eren shouted back, as he rolls his eyes. "I should go before Mikasa skins me alive. If you need any more help, just let me know. " Eren saluted awkwardly and took off with a bit of a jog. Armin could see that he was still smiling.

 _What even just happened?_  It wasn't as if Armin had never had a crush on a boy before, but the possibility of something actually happening was strange, as he never exactly had a lot of experience. Being out in the open made Armin feel exposed, in danger and vulnerable, so he let his mind wander to other things. More pleasant things. Armin hasn't had a chance to really notice how attractive Eren really is until now. The way his smile lights up his entire face and the way he throws his head back as he laughs are just a start.

Since he met him, there has really been more of a focus on the zombies trying to kill him, running for his life and then his dream this morning. Everything has been happening so fast and Armin wasn't even sure any of this was real anymore. He didn't even know if he was asking about the zombie apocalypse or flirting with a cute boy.

He looked up and around to check that no zombies had got close while he was having an existential crisis, but it was all okay. He sat staring into the distance losing himself in Eren's voice, the sparks he felt when their hands touched, only for a second, the warmth of Eren's hands on his body ...

"Hey Armin, do you want someone to take over?" Armin jumped, not expecting someone back so soon. It was Bertholdt.

"Yeah, thanks. Didn't even feel like I'd been out here for long anyway" Armin said, smiling politely as he walked back to camp.

Nearly everything had been packed up. Jean and Marco were putting down their tent; Sasha and Connie were packing up the chairs into Marco's car; Reiner was reading a book in the front seat of his new car and Eren was sat on the hood of his car with Mikasa inside. Armin approached the car to give Mikasa her gun back.

"You'll ride with us, won't you Armin?" Eren said to him, leaning back and taking in the sunshine.

"Yeah, of course." Armin said, putting Mikasa's gun on the seat next to her.

The group finished off their packing and all got into their cars. Sasha and Connie went in the back of Marco's car with Jean riding shotgun. Reiner and Bertholdt were in their car with most of the supplies, as they had the back seat free. Mikasa's car drove out first, with Eren and Armin, and the others would follow.

Armin loved looking out the window during car journeys to see the world passing and how beautiful everything was. Only now, the beautiful weather contrasted the destruction that the apocalypse brought. The sun shone brightly onto the streets that were littered with bodies, blood and even internal organs, which didn't make it the most pleasant sight. The zombies would follow the cars slowly behind, but most gave up and wandered in a different direction.

They were about to turn a corner and then the high school would be there. Armin used to walk up this road every day. He has run up this road late for school,  he has run down this road for his life away from zombies and now this might be the last time he ever sees it. He felt strangely nostalgic, even though he didn't have any particular nice memories from school. One of the nicer ones came from his road and that was his first kiss with the son of the guy who owned the corner shop, Charlie.

When the car started to turn the corner, Armin felt his stomach drop thinking about his past life but then he heard Mikasa gasp for a completely different reason. She slammed on the breaks and Armin is jolted forward.

"Holy shit." Eren whispered in disbelief. Armin leans forward on Eren's seat to look out of the front window. The zombies from the high school had spilled out into the street and there had to be hundreds on the road in front of them blocking their path. They heard a car horn and that must be Jean and Marco behind them. They have to turn around and get out of here right now.

Armin climbed to look out the back and started gesturing for them to reverse, waving his arms frantically to try to get them to move out the way. He could see Jean swearing angrily and Marco looking panicked.

"They need to hurry the fuck up, the zombies are coming this way." Eren shouted at Armin.

"I'm trying they aren't moving!" Armin shouted back, just as another car horn honks. That must be Reiner and Bertholdt.

"I'm gonna have to go tell them what's going on." Eren said, undoing his seatbelt.

"You are not getting out of this car. You are not risking your life again, Eren Yeager." Mikasa said, grabbing his arm and stopping him from getting out.

"What if one of them gets out of their car? They would be in danger and not even know what's happening." Armin said, worrying.

Finally, Marco's car started to move back slowly, but this was just as a zombie hit the front of Eren's car. It was leaning across the bonnet of the car and reaching across. Thankfully, the groaning sounds were muffled and there was no way it could get inside our car.

As soon as they had space, Mikasa reversed violently and quickly started driving in another direction heading out of town.  Armin checked that Marco and Reiner were both following and then they followed this road. They drove on for five minutes before they decided it would be a safe distance to pull over and discuss what they were gonna do next.

Armin takes a deep breath, as he gets out of the car. He would have thought that there would be a point that nothing would surprise you anymore, but that time was not anytime soon. Seeing hundreds of zombies , people aren't people anymore, people who Armin might have passed in the corridor at school once, but are now dead. It's all so much to take in and he just can't shake that image. Eren and Mikasa have probably seen so much more than him, yet they are also just stood silent in shock. They are all so lost in thought, that no one hears Marco's car pull up. They all turn at the noise that brings them all back to reality.

"What the fuck happened there?" Jean storms out of Marco's car and charging straight at Eren.

"What the hell are you-" Eren stutters, as Jean aggressively pushes Eren against his car and holds him by his throat. Armin instinctively takes a step forward in an attempt to defend Eren, even though Jean is terrifying, but Mikasa gets there first.

"Do you really think that's wise, Kirchstein?" Mikasa snarled, her gun pointed at his neck.

"Woah, guys. Everyone take a step back and calm the fuck down." Marco shouted as he ran to them from his car, but nobody moved an inch. He lowered his voice and spoke calmly . "Jean, I know you're angry but we both know this isn't Eren's fault."

" He nearly got you killed, Marco!" Jean yelled.

"Are you telling me this is nothing to do with today?? You've got to be kidd-" Eren starts, but is cut off by Jean tightening his grip.

"Hey, Jean." Marco said, softly touching Jean's shoulder and Armin sees Jean's whole demeanour change. His facial expression softens slightly, more full of hurt than rage. Marco whispers to him. "I'm here now, I'm fine. I'm fine."

"If this is about me taking Marco's bow to save them, to save Armin, I'm sorry. It all worked out fine in the end, I... I'm sorry."  

"He could have died, Eren... and that would have been on you." Jean whispers, letting Eren down and wrapping his arms around Marco. Marco rests his head on Jean's shoulder and closes his eyes, breathing in the whole moment. Jean's body shakes as Marco tightens his arms around him, holding on as Jean's body starts to shake with quiet sobs.

Armin remembered something Eren had said to him, _It's okay for you to cry_ and as he watched Jean he realised just how this was true. We all need to cry. Even someone like Jean.  He sees Connie and Sasha watching from a bit further back, holding hands as they lean on the hood of Marco's car. Seeing this and after everything that happened with Jean and Marco, Armin is overwhelmed with how much he wants to have this with Eren and as he looks over at him, he catches his eye and they smile gently at each other. Armin wonders if Eren was thinking anything similar.

Jean and Marco break apart and Marco takes Jean's hand before turning back to Mikasa, Eren and Armin. Sasha and Connie move from their position near Marco's car, walking hand in hand.

"We need to work out what we're doing." Mikasa says, just as Reiner and Bertholdt's car turns around the corner.

"Well, it's a good thing that they arrived now and not when anyone was getting threatened or having an intense hug." Eren said, which caused Jean to glare at him, but Marco was giggling behind him so it made the impact of it ineffective.

"Right where to next, gang?" Bertholdt said, putting his arms around Jean and Marco.

"There is a massive supermarket somewhere out of town in this direction, but I'm not sure how far away." Connie said.

"Oh yeah I know which one you mean. Don't you think a store that big would be overrun by now?" Armin asks, picturing a scene of mass panic. All it would take was for one zombie to get into a large crowd and it would be overrun in no time.

"We might still be able to get some food  though. If it's full of those things, no one else will bother to get it." Mikasa said, but Armin wasn't so sure.

"Yeah. Mikasa, Marco, Reiner and Jean are pretty good with the guns now, well the bow in Marco's case." Eren said, winking at Marco with the last comment which caused Jean to glare at him. "Reiner,  and I seem alright at the hand to hand combat stuff, as well as Armin, Sasha and Connie. And most of you know how to use guns as well. I think we could do this." Eren said.

"I agree." Armin said, smiling slightly remembering Eren teaching him how to use a gun, but trying to remain serious enough to have his input on this plan taken seriously. "That could work, but we would need some people at the front of the store to keep zombies away so we could get a clean getaway if the situation became too dangerous. One at the front looking outside to pick off any who get too near and one at the front looking inside to keep the door clear."

Everyone looked fairly surprised, but also impressed at Armin's strategic knowledge.

"Let's do it. We'll just keep driving until we get to the supermarket. I doubt it will be longer than an hour, but we better get to it while we still have light." Mikasa said, as she got back into the driver's seat of the car.

"I'm sure it's quite close actually." Armin said, following.

"You wouldn't have thought this was my car by the way you treat it, Mikasa." Eren said, as he gets into the other side and Armin slides into the other side.

"Well, you wouldn't have thought you ever passed a driving test judging by the way you drive." Mikasa pulled back into the road as Armin laughed at their exchange in the back.

They were on the road for less than ten minutes when they hear the revving of an engine behind them. It's Reiner and Bertholdt who speed past them. Bertholdt sticks his head out of the window as they drive past cheering and whooping as the wind sweeps through his hair. Eren laughs loudly as they drive past.

"Come on, the road is clear, we could catch up to them!" Eren shouts at Mikasa, giving her a mischievous smile.

"Don't be ridiculous, Eren!" Mikasa, said, angrily. "I'm not wasting my time getting in a stupid road race for no reason when we could have to stop at any minute ."

"Spoil sport." Eren muttered, huffing, folding his arms and putting his feet up on the dashboard.

"Reiner and Bertholdt start honking their horn and Eren sits up to look out the window.

"Fucking hell, that's huge." He shouts, and Armin agrees. "Oh shit, there are quite a lot of zombies. Do you think we could clear them by like putting our guns out of the window and shooting or something?"

"Yeah, look. I think Reiner and Bertholdt had the same idea." Armin says. "Mikasa, do you want to swap seats or something? Because you would be a lot more use with a gun than I would be."

"It's okay, Armin. I won't be shooting any zombies out the window. Can you pass me my gun please?" Mikasa says, calmly undoing her seat belt.

"Oh come on, Mikasa." Eren looked like he had more to say, but there was no point. He starts to put his own gun out of the window. "You know what, I'm not going to try and tell you how much of a terrible idea this is... but if you die, I will kill you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Mikasa says, while jumping out of the car and swiftly slamming the door behind her. Even though the car is only going very slowly, the fact that Mikasa just jumped out of a moving car made Armin even more in awe of her than before. He didn't have much of a chance to feel in awe as he had to clamber into the front seat as fast as he could.

Mikasa ran shooting her way through, as Eren and Reiner shoot from the cars. Armin drove, even though he wasn't exactly a confident driver. He had probably spent more time in his life playing Mario Kart than he had actually behind the wheel of a car. He circled around to clear the zombies that would probably get closer to the entrance if they left them alone. Reiner cheered as he shot five zombies in a row, all with headshots.

"Where the fuck is Mikasa going?" Eren shouted, picking off two zombies that had started to follow their car.

"Looks like she is going around the building." Armin shouted, swerving the car to follow her.

"Reiner! Bertholdt! Stay here and get stop them from getting around to us and Mikasa. Keeping the door clear is your priority though!" Eren shouted as they drove past. "Marco! We've cleared the door so get somewhere inside and see what you find!"

"Got it!" Reiner shouted back, as Bertholdt continued driving around the area at the front of the store. Marco gave a thumbs up as he drove towards the entrance.

 "Go Armin!" Eren yelled, as Armin was driving closer to Mikasa. Following her, they saw her take out nine zombies perfectly as she avoided any that came near her. She shot in all directions so quickly, it didn't even look possible.

"Mikasa!!" Armin shouted, trying to get her attention.

"Mikasa Ackerman!! Get in the fucking car!!" Eren shouted out the window before opening the door and climbing into the back seat to make room for her.

Mikasa jumped in as Eren picked off any zombies that got close to the car out the back window and now they could drive around together clearing as many of those things out as possible. Eren and Mikasa were amazing, and it made Armin mostly glad that he wasn't shooting because it would look embarrassing next to them.

"Are Reiner and Bertholdt behind us yet?" Armin asked Eren who checked out the back.

"No, but we left a fair few for them to kill. We'll meet back around at the front and we can go inside together." Eren said, positioning himself back at the window to shoot some more.

The full circle of the building took some time, but they needed to be thorough to make sure they were as safe as possible inside. Armin had a good feeling about this place and they might be able to get some good food.

As Armin pulled in around the front near the door, Reiner and Bertholdt were still driving around and picking off any that came around either corner.

"Are you alright to stay out here?" Eren shouted at them.

"Yeah sure, just save me something with chocolate in it!" Reiner yelled back and laughed. His laugh was cut short by a bullet going straight through his forehead. The car stops suddenly with him slumped out of the window.

"REINER!" That cry coming from the car can only come from one other person. "Oh god! Reiner! Somebody help! Please! Help me!" Bertholdt screamed through sobs.  

Armin takes a step, as he was about to start running to the car, just as the next gunshot goes off.

"Armin!" He hears the voice, but Armin can't move. His legs physically will not move from the shock. It's only then that he realises that the voice is Eren and he could be in great danger. "Get down! Now! Armin!"

The voice is still talking, but none of this is real. He will wake up and none of this will be real. He could even still be in high school right now and dreamed up the apocalypse to get out of a test. It can't be real. If this is real, then everyone could die and that can't happen. It can't.

He feels a body slam into him and the next he knows he is on the floor with someone holding him down behind the car.

"Eren."  he lets out a breath.

"Armin! Are you okay? We need to move right now." Eren says, urgently. "We are going to crawl towards the door and then make a run for it." Armin tries to look up to see the door, but another gunshot goes off making him flinch in Eren's arms. "Don't let go of me, okay? We're gonna make it inside."

"We're gonna make it." Armin repeats, as he tries to control his breathing by copying Eren's which he can feel against his neck.

"I'm going to count and then we are going to go. I will pull you along, but you have to stay down and keep hold of me. Okay, Armin?"

Armin nodded in response with a lump in his throat and his heart thumping so hard.

 "1... 2....3.... NOW!" Eren sprinted at the door holding tightly onto Armin's hand. They leaped through the door together and landed with side by side laying on the ground, hands still clasped together as their heavy breathing is the only sound they can hear. Armin allows himself to close his eyes for a second in the relief that he is still alive.

"Get up now, pig." an unfamiliar voice says. When Armin opens his eyes, a gun is above his head.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!!! i had a minor writer's block for like two days this week, but i'm good now and apparently my college work should take priority over this fic oops. still attempting to stick to at least once a week though and i hope you enjoy!!!!
> 
> ((also you can follow me on tumblr at searedontomyhearts.tumbr.com or on twitter @ashaagreyjoy if thats a thing you want to do))

"I said, get up. Now!" the stranger shouted, spitting a little on Armin's face. Armin blinked back at him for a second before he could get his body to move. He scrambled to his feet and stood face to face with the stranger who was staring him down.

"Give up your weapons." he commanded. Armin throws his bat away and the man kicks it out of reach followed by Eren's gun."And get your friend to get his shitty ass up off the floor before I shoot it!"

Armin looks down at Eren who is still laying on the floor. "Eren, please. Stand up." Armin pleaded, as tears start to fill his eyes.

"Are you deaf, brat?" he said, storming towards him and kicking him hard in the side so that he rolls over. Armin has to bite down on his lip to stop him from crying out as this terrifying strange walks around Eren smirking. "I said. Get the fuck up, now." He kicks Eren's stomach with each word and Armin winces every time. Eren groans in pain and is too weak to move himself into a ball before the man kicks again. Armin can hear him wheezing and is relieved that he is alive, but still terrified for his safety as the stranger raises his gun at Eren.

"Levi..." A smooth low voice says warningly. "Step away from the boy. He's not the one you're angry at." He stared down at Levi and Levi stepped away from Eren. He looked questioningly at Armin, then to Eren on the floor and back to Levi. "Are you with Jean and Marco?" he asks.

"Yes." Armin says, worried about what these men have done to his companions. "They came in to get supplies, we had no idea this place would be occupied. We thought it had been overrun and that we would have to fight zombies to get what we need, not people."

"You don't have to fight to get food. Levi just has a bit of a temper." The kinder and older looking man said, gesturing to Levi who is pacing up and down the end of the room with a scowl on his face. He huffs at the man's comment and kicks the wall.

"A bit." Armin says in disbelief, walking around to check on Eren. His breathing is still very  heavily, but his eyes are open now. The shock of what happened outside must have affected him and the impact from when they fell to the floor after bursting through the door can't have helped. Armin was still aching from that and he didn't even have to endure what Eren did from Levi.

He shuffled his feet awkwardly and then held out his hand to Armin. "Sorry not to introduce myself, I'm Erwin."

Armin begrudgingly took his hand and shook it. "Armin." The older man had a friendly smile, but a cold intensity to his eyes that scares him slightly. It didn't look like he was going to try to kill him or anything, but there is something in his eyes that told Armin, Erwin hadn't had an easy time. But who could have an easy time with what's going on in the world? They were interrupted by Levi.

"Have you seen what's going on outside, Erwin? People getting gunned down. These brats were accusing us of doing it. It's insulting." Levi said, spitting on the ground in disgust.

"Shooting?" Erwin said, surprised.

"Someone was shooting at us. They killed two of our friends. One could still be alive, but I really don't know. We had to get inside as soon as possible." Armin said shuddering as he pictures the bullet going through Reiner's forehead and hears Bertholdt's screams.

"With all these people dying, I think either these people are luring us into a trap or they have lead someone to us. I think they should go." Levi said, scowling at Armin. "I think they should go, right away." He steps towards Armin threateningly.

"Calm down, Levi. They have just lost some of their friends." Erwin puts a hand on Levi's shoulder but he flinches away from the touch. "I think we should let them get back to the rest of their group while we have a little talk." He turns to Armin, as Levi walks away. "The rest of your group are going through supplies over there. You will have to explain the situation to them."

When both Levi and Erwin have gone, Armin runs to Eren's side and takes his face in his hands.

"Eren? Are you okay?" he says, as he can hear Eren's breathing sounds a bit better.  

"Armin..." Eren whispers. "I'm fine... I'll live." He lets out a weak laugh which dissolves into a cough. Armin smiles. Surely being able to tell jokes should be taken as a good sign.

"Come on, we'll get you to see the others and they can help you." Armin says, as he lifts Eren's arms up and wraps one around his shoulder so that he can support him to walk. When he tries to lift him to his feet, he falters and nearly drops him. "I can't hold you up, Eren. I'm not strong enough."

 Armin is trying his hardest but he just can't hold up Eren's weight and he definitely wouldn't be able to carry him. It takes some time, but he finally gets Eren's feet on the ground to see if he can walk while Armin holds him.

"I'm sorry, Armin." Eren mutters into his neck, as he falls to one side. "Just give me a minute to get my balance."

"It's okay. We can do this." Armin says, staring determinedly at the aisle in front of him.

Once Eren starts to walk, it takes them a while to reach where the rest are, but Eren gets better as he goes along. They find Jean and Marco down the supermarket aisle packing up food into their bags. As soon as they see Eren and Armin they rush up to help Eren.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" Marco whispered in shock. He helps Armin set Eren down on the floor next to where Jean and Marco were sat before.

"He hasn't been bitten has he?" Jean asks, staring at Eren on the floor as he clutches his stomach and swears under his breath.

"No." Armin says, shaking his head. "It was that fucking guy who lives here. Levi. He was out of control."

"Levi? Short, serious, grumpy, massive attitude problem?" Jean said, staring in disbelief at Armin.

"That is a rather good description of him." Erwin says chuckling, coming up behind Armin and making him jump. "I don't think you should let him hear that though." He smiles at Jean, but Armin turns quickly and tries to back away slowly, staring at the man suspiciously. He takes Jean's gun out of his holster and points it at Erwin.

"Hey! Armin, what the fuck are you doing? Erwin's cool. He's okay." Marco said, reaching his hand out to Armin to take the gun. "I'm sorry about what Levi did and whatever happened, but Erwin is fine. He helped us. I'm sure he had nothing to do with what happened." Armin sighs and shakes his head. Now isn't really the time for Marco to be believing the best in people.

"Oh really? I don't know if I can trust someone who defends what his guy did. If he is fine, then explain to me how Reiner and Bertholdt are dead." Armin said, unsmiling. His voice getting louder with each word.

"What?" Jean shouts. "How?"

"They got shot. Well, technically I saw Reiner get shot and then another one went off and we couldn't hear Bertholdt screaming anymore so he is probably dead too. Eren got me inside." Tears start to fall freely down Armin's face and he wipes his eyes. 

"Oh god..." Marco says, covering his mouth in shock. "What about Mikasa?" he asks. Armin and Eren both look at each other and freeze. _Mikasa_.

"I can't remember seeing her after the shooting started." Armin said. "She's smart, she probably ducked for cover as soon as it all started."

"I thought she ran in here before I went back to get Armin." Eren whispered. "Where is she?"

 Everyone was speechless. Mikasa just had to be okay. She must have saved all their asses hundreds of times. She had saved Armin so many times after only knowing him for two days. Their silence was broken by Sasha and Connie coming around the corner carrying one of the huge bags, which was now full.

"Armin!" Sasha drops the bag and runs over to give him a hug which surprises Armin. When she pulls out of the hug, she smiles at him.

"Good to see you, man." Connie says, waving awkwardly from where he is stood holding both his and Sasha's bags. "Aw shit, what happened to Eren?"

"Levi did something. I don't really know what is happening or who to believe for that matter." Jean said. "You know this is why meeting new people sucks." He gestures to Erwin raising his voice. "You never know if you're gonna get someone useful, someone you can trust or if you're gonna end up with a fucking _asshole_ who does something like this." Jean shouts, pointing to Eren on the floor.

Erwin clears his throat and they all turn to him. "I think you should lay off of Levi for a bit. I'm not saying what he did was right at all, but he has been through a lot and... well it's not really my place to tell you."

"I don't give a shit what he's been through!" Jean shouts back, but is pulled back by Marco who steps forward to Erwin.

"That's still not an excuse! I may have stopped Armin from blowing your head off, but don't you dare defend what Levi did." Marco says. "Armin, Sasha and Connie only joined our group two days ago after something horrible happened to them and they haven't tried to kill any of us!"

"People deal with grief in different ways." Erwin said, looking down. "Levi has gone out to blow off some steam, maybe he will find your missing friend." Erwin says, walking off and leaving them.

"I'm not letting him get to Mikasa" Eren says, trying to get up but falling down.

"Eren, you're not going anywhere in that state. We'll deal with this." Jean said, grabbing his gun.

Sasha, Connie, Marco and Jean all get their weapons and head towards the door. Armin doesn't want to leave Eren's side, but he wants to find Levi. _What the hell has happened to him to make him turn out like this?_ He shudders thinking about his own loss and whatever could be worse than that.

"Armin, you can sit this one out." Marco says, checking his gun for ammo.

"No, I'll be-" Armin is about to reply when he looks up out of the window.

"Holy shit." Connie says.

There are even more zombies outside. The gunfire must have brought them closer. Some are closing in around Mikasa, but she shoots them down until nothing happens. She is out of ammunition and is forced to hit the incoming zombie in the head with the butt of her gun.

"Shit." Armin mutters as Jean kicks open the door and they run out. He follows quickly but he can't run as fast as everyone else in front of him.

"Armin and Sasha, stay here and keep the door clear so we can all get back inside." Marco shouts pulling an arrow from the quiver on his back and shooting it straight through a zombie's forehead. He pulls it out as the zombie falls and carries on running. Most of them are following Jean, Marco and Connie, but a few stray towards Armin and Sasha. Sasha takes two of them out and Armin hits the third with his bat. The sound of gunshots draws them away from Armin and Sasha, as Jean is constantly shooting zombies of the way.

"Mikasa!" Armin hears Jean shout, but Mikasa is fighting against a zombie that has her pinned up against a car. Jean shoots an incoming one but cannot get a shot without the danger of hitting Mikasa. He stands aiming while Connie and Marco cover the area around him. "Fuck." he mutters.

"If you fucking shoot me, Jean. I'll kill you." She says, struggling. She is holding it away with her foot. She pulls the zombie's hair and half of the side of its face slides off onto her hand causing her to make a loud groan of disgust. It is still trying to get closer to her to bite her, but then BLAM. The gunshot didn't come from Jean, it came from behind. The shot goes clean through the zombie's head and as it falls they can see Levi on the other side of her.

"Go!" Mikasa shouts, as she breaks away and runs straight towards the door. They all follow, including Levi. Sasha shoots a zombie coming from the side, but besides that the door is clear and they can all get inside easily.

"Argh!" Armin hears and sees that behind his friends running Levi trips over a corpse. Another is getting closer to him and he swears loudly. Mikasa is the only one who turns back and shoots the one crawling along the ground that was less than a metre away from Levi, but then continues running . She thankfully gave Levi enough time to get to his feet and shoot the zombie approaching him. Armin shuts the door behind them and as three zombies slam against it. He leans against the nearest wall and throws his bat aside.

"Oh so you weren't just leaving me out there." Mikasa huffs and hunches over while breathing heavily. "Thank you by the way." She adds on nodding to Levi. Armin was still staring warily at Levi, but it was clear nobody knew how to mention what happened with Eren to Mikasa. When she looks up, Armin notices that her face is bleeding.

"Woah, hey what happened to your face?" Marco says, stepping forward to take a look. "We should get-" She slaps his hand away.

"Just a graze. No. I'm fine. Where's Eren?"

"He got a little hurt, but he's okay." Marco says and her eyes widen. "He's fine, Mikasa. He's just resting right now." Everyone knew that was only a half truth, but they all looked scared enough of Mikasa not to want to explain fully. "Eren is completely fine, it's just the circumstance that are, err, awkward."

"Where is he?" She says, looking at each of their faces. She knew something wasn't right. Levi quietly tries to step away and her eyes go to him."Do you know where he is?" Levi freezes, but then shrugs and continues walking.

"Over in that aisle there, but" Marco started, but as soon as she knew where he was, she ran. Armin runs to follow and hears Marco shouting after her before realising it's too late.  "Mikasa!! Someone should probably explain before you...fuck."

"What happened to him, Armin?" Mikasa asks looking down at Eren on the floor. She raises a questioning eyebrow at him, knowing that he is hiding something. Armin knows that the anger he felt earlier would be nothing compared to Mikasa. He barely knew these people and they were all in a highly stressful and unpredictable situation, who knows how they will react to things. He doesn't even know how _he_ is reacting. What's a normal reaction to being shot at and watching someone get beaten up and knowing that your parents are dead and being in the middle of a zombie fucking apocalypse? Nothing can be considered normal anymore.

"Mikasa!" Eren shouts. "Come here and gimme a hug!" He raises his hands up, but doesn't get off the floor. She wraps his arms around him and he buries his head in her shoulder letting out a sigh of relief.

"Are you feeling better?" Armin asked, smiling at Eren who was looking a lot better.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Good as new. That guy, Erwin fixed me up. He thinks that I hit my head on the floor when we got in and I have some bruising but there isn't any internal bleeding or anything." He smiles back and then obviously forgets that Mikasa is still there.

"Internal bleeding? Why would you have internal bleeding? Why hasn't anyone told me what the fuck happened?"  

He tries to think of a delicate way to word it, but sighs. "You know that guy who saved you and well you saved him too... Levi. He threatened us and hurt Eren." 

"What? Why would he do that?" Mikasa exclaims, looking from Eren to Armin.

"That hasn't exactly been explained to us." Eren said, his voice is surprisingly light for someone who got the shit beaten out of him not long ago. "Erwin something about grief and a bad temper being a bad mixture." He shrugs. "I'm all patched up now and it's crazy times I'm not exactly gonna hold a grudge when there are fucking zombies roaming around out there."

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I don't actually think it's the zombies we have to worry about anymore, Eren. Someone shot Reiner and Bertholdt and they almost got both of us and Mikasa." Armin says, shaking his head at the statement.

"We don't know what happened out there! It could have been people from here shooting us the whole time!" Eren shouted.

"It wasn't." Mikasa said quietly. "If that guy was hurting Eren as soon as you got inside, then he couldn't have been shooting me outside."

"It must have come from this direction though, I mean Reiner got shot while his head was sticking out of the car facing the entrance of the supermarket." Eren said, as if this proved the whole thing.

"But then Bertholdt... If Bertholdt was facing forward in the passenger seat or was he driving I can't remember..." Armin thought about the angle of everyone on the scene, the direction the bullets came from, every detail that he could see and everything he needed to know to calculate the answer. The shots he heard, but didn't see were hindering his analysis. He need every detail, this was more of an estimation than a certain answer. " The bullet must have gone through the windscreen meaning the shooter came from the left and they could have been moving around the perimeter. But then..." Armin's voice trails off and he can practically feel the cogs in his brain turning. 

"Your analytical skills are impressive, Armin." Erwin said, appearing behind him and walking over to Mikasa. "Would you allow me to take a look at your wound?." Mikasa eyes him up, suspiciously."I had some medical training a long time ago, so I can still be of use." he says smiling.

Mikasa nods and makes room for Erwin to sit so he can examine the small wound on her face. He pours some of a bottle of water over the wound and she winces.  Armin moves to sit down next to Eren and they watch as Erwin cleans up Mikasa's face.

"The wound shouldn't get infected if we change this bandage every day. We can stock up on the gauze here and it will be fine." Erwin says, as he covers the wound with a bandage.

"You said you had medical training... You weren't a doctor were you? Before all this, I mean." Armin asks, curiously.

"I was a commander in the army. There is some stuff you just pick up in the field... There isn't much to do I just need to prevent infection."" Erwin said and sighing before changing the subject. "You know I would suggest getting some painkillers and antibiotics from the pharmacy at the back over there. Neither of your injuries are serious, but it would be best to take them when we leave."

"We?" Eren asks, confused and glaring slightly. "Who said anything about us all leaving? Are you coming with us?"

"If you will take us. I think it would be best to get away from an area that has been attacked by a still unknown enemy. I doubt the place will hold much longer, as the sound of gunshots bringing these things coming from all directions.

"Do you have any idea of where we could go?" Armin asked. "Is there a safe place? Are the army doing anything to protect people still?"

"Son, the army's dead. I've always been a bit of a loner so I had no trouble getting out when everyone was panicking and I was out of action at the time anyway.. I got out before it even started. I could have stayed behind and helped civilians, but I had no idea how bad it would get. Until now, I've only had to worry about watching my own back."

They are all in a bit of shock at this information about the stranger. Armin could have guessed that he was military and it was impossible to imagine what this man had gone through in his lifetime. He couldn't be that old, but it showed in his eyes what he had seen.

"I'll go raid the pharmacy then." Armin said, starting to walk away when he heard Jean shout.

Jean runs up to them. "We have to move. They are gathering at the door and if too many lean on it, the glass will break." Armin thought back to his old home where he thought the same thing. "We're going out of the back exit which is through that door over there and up some stairs. Go!"

"Wait." Levi runs up to them. "We can go to the roof and down the outside staircase. It's closer to your cars."

"What makes you think you can come with us?" Jean said, squaring up to Levi which just showed how much taller he was.

"Jean, leave it. They're coming."  Eren says, glaring. Both Jean and Levi looks surprised.

"After all he did, Eren. You can't be serious." Marco said, pulling Jean's arm from behind so that he was away from Levi.

"Don't ask about it, we need to get going." Mikasa says, standing up.

"I can't believe she's okay with this." Jean says in disbelief gesturing to Mikasa, but Marco mutters something to him and he stays quiet. Mikasa glaring at him probably helped that too.

"Before we go, we need to make sure we have enough supplies. I don't think it will be possible to load up any cars because they aren't close enough." Eren says, leaning on the shelf for support.

"If we all fill a bag with a decent amount of food each, it could last us a while." Sasha suggested, holding up her already full bag from before.

"But not too heavy for when we need to run." Armin said, concerned. He knows that he isn't exactly the fastest runner even when he isn't carrying a bag full of tins and bottles.

"We need to focus on medical supplies." Erwin said. "We don't know how many places we could find with any kind of first aid kits or medication."

Armin nods in agreement. "If we all split up, we could get everything we need and get out of here before they break through the door. I need to go get our weapons, they're still over there." He starts running towards the door as the others are running in other directions through the store. He grabs his bat and Eren's gun trying to ignore the groans coming from the window. For some reason he looks up at them and then he sees, Bertholdt. His t-shirt is soaked with blood and he has a shard of glass sticking out of his face. He looks into Bertholdt's dead eyes and shivers knowing that will probably be his fate too, one day.

He chucks the gun to Eren (knowing that the safety is on obviously) and Mikasa comes back holding loads of boxes of painkillers. She throws some at Armin.

"Load up your bag with these" She shouts, but they are jogged by a loud noise.

The glass shatters and the sound of groaning echoes throughout the store. Everyone tries to get as far away from the doors as possible. Armin doesn't look back and just follows the group. He is near the back, so he can't see what is going on in front of him. He feels a hand on his back pushing him forward and turns to see Eren. They run through a door and Eren slams him behind him. He can hear shouting up ahead.

"Where the fuck are you going? We need to get out here. This is the exit." Jean shouts, but Levi continues running up the stairs.

"We are going straight up the stairs to the roof." Levi shouts back.

"Jean, let's just go to the roof." Connie shouts, following Levi and Erwin up. Jean looks angry but there is banging on the door downstairs that hurries them along.

Armin runs, but struggles not to fall behind. Eren is close behind him, his hand still on his back pushing him forward. When they reach the top, Levi kicks the door open and they run straight out onto the roof. The outside stairs go down the side of the store, which is hopefully clear now that the zombies are either dead or have moved around to the front.

"This way!" Erwin shouts, directing them in the right direction and they all start clambering down the stairs. There are no zombies in sight and for once it looks like they can actually get out of this alive.

"Don't look so relieved, everyone! We've still got to get to the cars somehow." Marco yells as he scoots down the stairs and Armin realised that they still have a long way to go to get out of here.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm so so glad to finally have this fic uploaded, as it's an idea that i have had for a little while and it hope you are as excited as i am!!!


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